Netflix has released a documentary about Russell Brand following his sentencing, offering further disturbing insight into the disgraced comedian's behaviour. Russell Brand: Open Secret landed on the streamer on Friday, November 13, with no advance screeners released to the media and very little information about its contents.
Despite spending days writing about all aspects of celebrity culture, even this hardened, difficult-to-shock hack found herself open-mouthed at some of the details in this latest examination of the now-convicted rapist's behaviour. There were more than five moments that made me wish I had never heard his name, but these were the ones that really stood out.
He dated a student
Buried deep in Brand's CV is the fact he used to teach English as a foreign language at the Callan School of English on Oxford Street in central London. One of his students was Amanda Alguero Alejos, who first met him in class in 1999. Her name had actually come up in court, but the details of their meeting had escaped me amid all the other murky revelations.
The pair had an on-and-off relationship over several years, including living together in Ibiza for a period. She admitted he used to take recreational drugs during this time. While she has described him as "nice and sweet" and said the relationship was consensual and loving, the fact he dated a student raises serious questions about the power imbalance between teacher and student.
His roommate witnessed him restraining a distressed woman
For a time in the 1990s, Brand shared a flat with fellow comedian Mark Pinhero, who said he offered him a room because he was a bit "down and out". During this period, Pinhero recalled Brand bringing a woman into his bedroom before things became noisy and "really calamitous". He heard the woman shouting: "Let go of me."
He intervened, opening the door and turning on the light, and saw Brand holding onto the woman's arm with both hands, pulling her back towards him "like a tug of war" while she tried to wrestle herself away. Pinhero was concerned enough to tell the woman he would support her if she chose to report the incident to the police.
A "revolving door" of women
Brand has been very open about his promiscuity in the past, but the accounts in the documentary offer an even more startling picture of his relationships with women. Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of Andrew Sachs who found herself at the centre of the "Sachsgate" scandal, said Brand treated women like a conveyor belt.
She recalled that as she was leaving his home after spending time with him, she would see another woman arriving to take her place. According to Baillie, he made little attempt to hide the fact he was seeing multiple women back-to-back.
Former girlfriends were horrifically abused by Brand
While the focus at his trial was on women he had one-off encounters with, the documentary featured disturbing accounts from women who were in relationships with him. Ex-girlfriend Jordan Martin, who dated Brand for six months in 2007, described him as deeply controlling.
She alleged he criticised her for sunbathing and dressing like an "attention-seeking tart", and once stood over her, forcing her to brush her teeth repeatedly until her gums bled because he wanted her to "taste anonymous". She also recounted a disturbing incident in a hotel room where Brand became jealous over a phone call she made to an ex, smashed her phone, followed her into another room and digitally penetrated her without saying a word before walking away.
An anonymous former girlfriend, referred to as "Emily" and portrayed by an actor in the documentary, alleges that Brand raped her after refusing to wear a condom. She recounts repeatedly begging him to stop and trying to kick him off before he pinned her hands behind her head and forced himself on her.
He effectively admitted to rape on stage
It has become increasingly clear through the evidence presented at his trial that Brand was hiding in plain sight for years. So much so that he appeared to feel untouchable and confident enough to make what sounded like an admission of rape during a live performance, albeit framed as a joke.
During one on-stage Q&A, he casually described himself as "just a bloke from Essex", before adding: "Oh, and also I raped someone once." The audience laughed, but viewed in the context of everything that has since emerged, the moment is chilling. Brand appeared comfortable enough to make such a remark in public, seemingly without any fear of consequences or repercussions.
